AggroChat #247 - Limited Ability to Focus

Tonight we delve into the esoteric talking more about concepts than concrete things.  Bel leads off with a discussion of a game he has been playing lately Outward, and how it feels like we remember Everquest feeling even though it is not entirely certain if that was the purpose.  From there we delve into a topic that has been sitting on our list for awhile but kept getting bumped due to time… namely Focus-Consuming Games as in the games that as a lot out of the player. This starts a discussion about the constraints on our time and how occasionally a game is just expecting you to be playing it as a hobby.  From there we delve into a topic spawned from a YouTube video linked below… discussing how a lot of Games as a Service titles are manufacturing discontent among the players to spur them into making purchases. We discuss that there are a lot of lessons to be learned in how to do this well from the Mobile Gaming space and how in many cases Genres don’t matter the way they used to.

Topics Discussed

• Outward
• • Feeling like we remember Everquest
• Focus-Consuming Games
• • Games that want more attention than we are able to give at a time
  • Looking for that neutral state in games
  • Limited attention span or ability to focus
• Manufactured Discontent
• • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHPNgIihR0
  • Games as a Service and the psychology that goes into putting us in a position to buy things.
  • Lessons that need learned from Mobile Gaming
  • Genre’s matter less than they used to